An Old Wives' Tale

You’ve probably heard it, heck, I still hear it. It goes something like this: “Holding your baby too much will spoil her and she’ll expect to be held all of the time.”

Uh, hello.

We’re talking about babies. Babies are supposed to be held. Cuddled. Kissed. Comforted.

As you can probably guess, that was one bit of advice that got thrown out (hmm, hmm, with the bath water!). How ridiculous!

I held my baby whenever I wanted and if she wanted me to pick her up I picked her up. And you know what, she is 6 now and my baby is gone. So am I glad I held her when I could, do I regret holding and cuddling my baby? No Way!

And the best part?

She’s not spoiled. (What does that mean anyway? Children are not left-overs in the fridge.)

But she has always know that I’m here for her (and if you can’t count on your momma who can you count on?).

So my advice: Go pick up your baby – now! While you’ve still got the chance!

(The picture included today is of Zoë and my mom. It was taken on Sept. 11, 2001 - at least one nice thing happened that day.)

Sleep What's That?

Zoë was born in the summer and down here in southern Texas that means heat and humidity. It also means air conditioning.

But keep in mind that your baby doesn’t have the girth of an adult or even a child, plus they don’t do too well staying covered up.

I learned this one the hard way.

During the day the air conditioning didn’t seem to bother her, but at night – well that was a different story.

It didn’t take long for me to figure it out though!

I found that dressing Zoë in a light weight, long sleeved onesie with the feet kept her comfortable and she’d sleep longer than 15 minutes at a time. What a relief that was!

(In the winter months, I dressed Zoë in a plush velveteen suit for sleep – it had a hood, feet, and even little mittens. It was super soft and comfy – and she never had an uncomfortable night.)

Zoë also enjoyed lullabies – I have a tape that I played for her every night it was part of our routine.

Routines are extremely important and they really do help your child (no matter what age) make the transition into sleep mode.

The routine I established with Zoë and still use to this day goes like this:
· Snack
· Potty
· Bath (brush teeth and *hair)
· Book and cuddle time
· Tuck in with lots of kisses
· Turn music on (Zoë now prefers Princess songs or Shrek disco)
· Lights out (although Zoë does have a night light)

*About the hair: Once your little one has long hair – beware!

Make sure you braid it before bedtime otherwise you’ll get the biggest knots you’ve ever seen.

I didn’t know this could happen – what a shocker – my own hair never did this, but ever since Zoë, I’ve discovered that lots of little girls have this problem.